ESPN: Sun Life Stadium one of the worst health inspection violators in pro sports

Would you like some slime with your frozen cocktail? How about a scoop of small insects?

All that and more has been found behind the food counter at the Dolphins’ Sun Life Stadium, which ranks among the worst in the country in food sanitation, according to a report by ESPN’s Outside the Lines.

According to official health inspection records obtained by ESPN, a whopping 93 percent of vendors at Sun Life Stadium earned “critical violations” of the health code. Among 107 NFL, MLB, NBA and NHL venues nationally, only the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C. and Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg scored worse than Sun Life Stadium (both with 100 percent critical violations).

Inspection report excerpt: In June 2009, an employee complained anonymously that small insects and other debris were blended into frozen alcoholic beverages at a stand where equipment wasn’t being cleaned. When inspectors checked, they issued a critical violation for a buildup of slime inside the frozen drinks machine.

Officials from the Dolphins and Centerplate, the stadium’s vendor, were not immediately available for comment when reached Monday morning. The Florida Marlins and Miami Hurricanes also play home games at the stadium.

“The whole stand needs to be properly inspected before hundreds, if not thousands, of fans (are) subjected to the possibility of becoming ill,” according to the health report.

Sun Life Stadium is part of a disturbing trend — only eight stadiums in the country had more than 75 percent of their vendors making critical violations, but seven are in Florida. The Heat’s AmericanAirlines Arena also had 93 percent critical violations, and the venues for the Jaguars, Bucs, Magic and Lightning all scored over 75 percent.

According to the report, an uncorrected critical violation in Florida could result in an administrative complaint, which can include fines and eventual revocation of an establishment’s license.

The Dolphins’ violations, though, appear much worse than those of their NFL counterparts in Florida. The Buccaneers, with 84 percent vendor violations, were cited for “chicken tenders not being cooked to the required 165 degrees.” The Jaguars, with 77 percent vendor violations, were cited for “at least 11 locations cited for holding hot food at temperatures below 135 degrees, causing potential bacterial growth.”

ADD (5:30 p.m.):

Officials from the Dolphins and Sun Life Stadium deferred comment to Centerplate, the stadium’s food vendor.

“Centerplate takes the topic of food safety and the well-being of our fans seriously, and works with the local health department to actively manage safe food service operations,” spokesman Bob Pascal said in a statement. “The Florida state health department system has a rigorous and stringent approach to inspections, and evaluates stadiums based on whether they have met standards for safe operation–which Sun Life Stadium has done in 100 percent of its inspection reports for 2009

Jenn Meale, spokeswoman for Florida’s Department of Business and Professional Regulations, confirmed that despite the number of violations, the stadium has passed all health inspections.

When a food establishment commits a critical violation, a term coined by the Food and Drug Administration, it simply means the establishment must fix the violation by the time of the next random health inspection.

“It is not unusual for a restaurant to have critical violations and also meet inspection standards and be perfectly safe for the public,” Meale said Monday. “It can be a good thing actually, that they find these violations and then the vendors correct them.”